Effects of Horror Movies

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Effects of Horror Movies

A Social Action Research

Presented to the

Upper BED of the School of the Holy Spirit of Quezon City

In partial fulfillment of the requirements of English IV

AGONCILLO PATROL OF PAMAYANAN

Arissa Yoshiko Hiroko Yuuki C. Aman

Generalization

Mae Lauren M. Canonizado

Materials and Methods

Erika Lou C. Curata

Background of the Study, Bibliography

Anica Lorainne S. Feliciano

Bibliography

Louise Margarette R. Lazol

Recommendation, Background of the Study

Christina G. Marquez

Objectives

Eunice Ina N. Palma Gil

Observations and Findings, Analysis of Data

Celina D. Pineda

Appendix

Submitted to:

Guadalupe C. De Jesus

Date:

March 3, 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS


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I. Introduction page no.

A. Statement of the Problem page no.

B. Objectives page no.

C. Significance of the Project page no.

II. Materials and Methods page no.

A. Materials page no.

B. General Procedure page no.

III. Observations and Findings page no.

IV. Analysis of Data page no.

V. Generalization/Conclusion page no.

VI. Recommendation page no.

VII. Appendix page no.

VIII. Bibliography page no.


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I. Introduction

A. Background of the Study

Horror movies play on one of our most basic emotions; fear. As adults, our fears tend to be

rational rather than supernatural, but horror movies take us back to the time when our world

wasn't ruled by the rational.

The horror film industry brings in viewers from all over the world and from every caste of life.

But, people differ greatly in their enjoyment of horror movies. The primary purpose of this

research is to look at the individual differences in peoples horror film viewing behavior;

furthermore, whether certain personality traits predict physiological reactions to horror film

viewing.

The term 'horror' first comes into play with Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle ofOtranto, full of supernatural shocks and mysterious melodrama. Although rather a stilted tale, it

started a craze, spawning many imitators in what we today call the gothic mode of writing. Better

writers than Walpole, such as Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho) and MATTHEW

GREGORY LEWIS (The Monk) took the form to new heights of thrills and suspense. For half a

century, gothic novels reigned supreme. As the Age of Enlightenment gave way to the new

thinking of the early nineteeth century, Romantic poets of the stature of Coleridge (The Rime of

the Ancient Mariner, Christabel) and Goethe (The Erlking) reflected the strong emotions of the

movement through a glass darkly, recognising that fear and awe aren't so very different

sensations. The first great horror classic (Frankenstein 1818) was written by a Romantic at the

heart of the movement - Mary Shelley.

Many writers, movie directors, and psychologists have pointed to the belief that all fear is based

off of the fear of the unknown. While there is not a clinical term for this fear, it encompasses the

basis of almost every fear. By exploiting this fear, horror writers can get to the essence of fear and

of horror writing.

Horror writing is based on the exploitation of fear. No matter what type of horror genre that

someone writes in, exploitation of fear has to be present to be considered as horror.


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Many people enjoy being scared. It is the feeling that is caused by complete shock, awe, and

disgust that many people feed on. Some people prefer the feeling of coming down from being

scared. Whatever the re3ason for enjoying horror, all fans of the genre have the fear of the

unknown.

Necrophobia, which is fear of the dead, is present in many genres in horror. This fear from the

dead is caused by the fact that we do not truly know what will happen to us after we die. We also

do not know what power the dead could actually have over us.

Xenophobia, which is the fear of strangers, aliens, and foreigners, sprouts from the fear of the

unknown. People that are xenophobic are afraid because they do not know what those that they

fear will do.

Autophobia is the fear of being alone. This fear is constantly present in all types of horror. This

fear is brought on by the fact that we are unsure as to our own safety when we are alone. Once

again, fear of the unknown.

Certain writers, such as H.P. Lovecraft, based their entire career as writers trying to get to

the root of horror. Lovecraft believed that the greatest gift that was given was that man (and

woman) could not understand everything in the universe. Lovecraft also believed that it was the

greatest curse to be exposed to something that we did not understand.

Exposing a reader or moviegoer to something that they could not possibly understand is the

essence of horror. The disbelief and questions that will come to mind will stay with a fan for

many years to come.

B. Objectives


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Our group specifically planned certain objectives for our research paper to be successful. Our

main objective is to be able to know the effects of watching Horror Movies. Our group wants to know

the impact of watching horror movies to the viewers who are watching. Our group also wants to

know if fears can be conquered by watching Horror Movies. We want to know if its possible and

surprisingly helpful. In addition to that, we also want to know the purpose of watching a Horror

Movie. We want to know why people are fond of watching it, what is it about horror movies that

make them want to watch it so much. Also, we want to know the age bracket that loves watching

horror movie the most. And lastly, our group want know if the Horror Movie affects our faith and

beliefs about demons, exorcism, ghosts or even God.

C. Significance of the Project

Horror movies built peoples fears; widened their imaginations to the point that we scare

ourselves with what isnt proven and supported with natural cases. It could be just a movie but it

could have a big effect on peoples lives. It may result to sleepless nights, cowardice, and it could

shake our sturdy faith in God. that is why we want to know the effects of watching a horror movie. It

would make you aware of what will happen to you after watching it. People should be more aware of

the purpose of watching horror movies and the consequences after watching it. This research is

significant because it would gather personal reviews from different people knowing the precautions

that should be given to people. Through horror movies we are also tested on how much we cling on

to our faith in God and to what extent would we handle our fears. This survey also allows us to be

more open minded of why people watch horror movies. We wish to conduct surveys from grade 6

SHSians, because 6th grade pupils are in the verge of confusion, in that way we can accomplish our

4th objective, which is to know if the Horror Movie affects our faith and beliefs about demons,

exorcism, ghosts or even God. After conducting the survey we will tally all the survey sheets and

hopefully accomplish and answer all our objectives.


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II. Materials and Procedures

A. Materials

- Survey form

- Ballpen

- Interviewees (random people from our school and homes)

- Envelopes

- Bond Papers

- Recorder

- Computer

B. General Procedure

First we made our survey form for us to determine the usual effects of horror films to the

viewers. Finding people to answer our survey was a bit difficult; however we did find people from

our school, and homes. Approximately we used two and a half days for the whole surveys to be

answered. After letting people answer our surveys, we then come up with the results which will be

shown on the Analysis of Data. We also recorded the answers of the people and compared them so

that it will be easier for us to know the most common effect of horror films to people.

III. Observations and Findings

Based on the survey we had, people watch horror movies out of curiosity. Most of them watch

horror movies whenever there is a new one showing in the theaters. From the survey we also knew

that most of the people who watch horror movies have hallucinations after they watch it and most of

it lasts about 1-5 days to a week. More than half of the survey takers answered that horror movies

sometimes affect their beliefs and that there's a moral lesson you get whenever you watch a horror

movie. Through this survey we also discovered that people watch more of the ghost type horror


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movie than the suspense type. Conducting this survey truly helped us achieve our objectives and

because of that, now we know what are the effects, reasons and causes of watching horror movies.

IV. Analysis of Data

Q#1- Why do you watch horror

movies? a. YOU LIKE THE FEELING

OF BEING FRIGHTENED b. YOU

LIKE TO SEE BRUTAL/

HORRIFYING SCENES? c.

CURIOSITY d. EVENTS

10%

20%

30%

40%

c

d

a

b

Q#2- How often do you watch

horror movies? a. EVERY WEEK

b. ONCE A MONTH c.

EVERYTIME THERE'S A NEW

HORROR MOVIE SHOWING d.

NEVER

10%

20%

30%

40%

c

b

a

d

Q#3- Feeling after wa tchinga. TRAUMA/ NERVOUS

BREAKDOWN b.

HALLUCINATIONS OF THE

FILM c. HAPPY/ SATISFIED d.

NOT SCARED AT ALL

10%

20%

30%

40%

b

a

c

d

Q#4- How long does yourtraumas/ hallucinations last?

a. 1-5 NIGHTS b. 1 WEEK c.1

MONTH

17%

33%

50%

a

b

c


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Q#5- Do you have nightmares

after watching horror movies? a.

YES b. NO

1

2

a

b

Q#6- Do horror movies

sometimes affect your beliefs?

a. YES b. NO

1

2

a

b

Q#7- Do you regre t w atching

horror movies? a. YES b. NO

33%

67%

a

b

Q#8- Do you think there's a moral

lesson you can get from

watching horror m ovies? a. YES

b. NO

1

2

a

b

Q#9- What type of horror movies

are you most fund of? a.

SUSPENSE/ THRILLER b. GHOST

TYPE

1

2

b

a

V. Generalization/Conclusion


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We conclude that most of our interviewees were scared of horror movies and that some of them

were having difficulties in watching one. Horror movies affect peoples belief in a way that they

forget that we have a God that guides us throughout our life. Most of them suffer from nightmares

that causes a strong negative emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear and/or horror. Their

dreams may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror, thats why

some of them suffer from insomnia because they feel that someone is watching them or someone is

with them. They said that after watching a horror movie they feel uneasy and uncomfortable. Two of

which said that, they were frightened and had trouble moving about because they found the movies

theyve watched too disturbing. They said that more of the music probably made it even more bizarre

and whack. They felt scared on the music rather on the scenes. Its weird though because some

actually became scared of the scenes rather on the music. Well, people have different perspectives in

life but we can say that horror movies bring a lot of impact to people who are watching one. We

chose this topic because our patrol, Agoncillo, would like to know the effects of horror movies to

people who are watching it. We are happy that we know now what were listed in our objectives and

that we are now guided by the reactions of our interviewees.

VI. Recommendation

We recommend that when researching about the effects of horror films you should have

different kinds of people from the different age brackets to interview or give surveys to. They are

important because they might be factors that can affect once perception about the said kind of film.

When conducting an interview or survey you should consider asking questions like how did you feel

before during and after watching the horror movie or how many times do you watch horror movies.

These questions provide you windows to answer the effect of horror film to an audience. We also

recommend reviewing horror films so that you would know what movies really had the greatest and

the lowest effect to the viewers. Remember that reviewing a movie requires research and thoughts

behind the words for words leave a trail, so when they are written, it is to be assumed they will

remain available to read long after someone may no longer want them read.


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VII. Appendix

History

The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by film

pioneers such as Georges Mlis in the late 1890s, the most notable being his 1896 Le Manoir du

diable ("The House of the Devil") which is sometimes credited as being the first horror film. Another

of his horror projects was 1898's La Caverne maudite ("The Cave of the unholy one", literally "the

accursed cave"). Japan made early forays into the horror genre with Bake Jizo and Shinin no Sosei,both made in 1898. In 1910, Edison Studios produced the first bone chilling film version of

Frankenstein; thought lost for many years, film collector Alois Felix Dettlaff Sr. found a copy and

had a 1993 rerelease.

The early 20th century brought more milestones for the horror genre including the first monster

to appear in a full-length horror film, Quasimodo, the hunchbackof Notre-Dame who had appearedin Victor Hugo's novel, "Notre-Dame de Paris" (published in 1831). Films featuring Quasimodo

included Alice Guy's Esmeralda (1906), The Hunchback (1909), The Love of a Hunchback (1910)

and Notre-Dame de Paris (1911).

1950s1960s

With advances in technology that occurred in the 1950s, the tone of horror films shifted from the

gothic toward concerns that some saw as being more relevant to the late-Century audience. The

horror film was seen to fall into two sub-genres: the horror-of-Armageddon film and the horror-of-

the-demonic film.

A stream of low-budget productions featured humanity overcoming threats from "outside": alien

invasions and deadly mutations to people, plants, and insects, most notably in films imported from

Japan, whose society had first-hand knowledge of the effects of nuclear radiation..

Filmmakers continued to merge elements of science fiction and horror over the following

decades. One of the most notable films of the era was 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Manoir_du_diablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Manoir_du_diablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studioshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1910_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasimodohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunchbackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunchback_of_Notre_Damehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Guyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_invasionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_invasionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Manhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Manoir_du_diablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Manoir_du_diablehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1898_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1910_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_Studioshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1910_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_in_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasimodohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunchbackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunchback_of_Notre_Damehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Guyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_invasionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_invasionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Shrinking_Man


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Richard Matheson's existentialist novel. While more of a "science-fiction" story, the film conveyed

the fears of living in the "Atomic Age" and the terror ofsocial alienation.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, production companies focused on producing horror films,

including the British company Hammer Film Productions. Hammer enjoyed huge international

success from full-blooded technicolor films involving classic horror characters, often starring Peter

Cushing and Christopher Lee, such as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Dracula (1958), and The

Mummy (1959) and many sequels. Hammer, and directorTerence Fisher, are widely acknowledged

as pioneers of the modern horror movie.

American International Pictures (AIP) also made a series of Edgar Allan Poethemed films

produced by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. Some contend that these sometimes

controversial productions paved the way for more explicit violence in both horror and mainstream

films. Teaming with Tigon British Film Productions, AIP would make Michael Reeves' Witchfinder

General (1968). Released in 1968, it was retitled for American audiences as The Conqueror Worm,

most likely in an attempt to capitalize upon the success of AIP's earlier Poe-themed offerings, but the

tale of witch hunter Matthew Hopkins (played by an uncharacteristically humorless Vincent Price)

was more sadistic than supernatural.

Ghosts and monsters still remained popular, but many films used the supernatural premise to

express the horror of the demonic. The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) and The Haunting (Robert

Wise, 1963) are two such horror-of-the-demonic films from the early 1960s. In Rosemary's Baby by

(Roman Polanski, 1968), the devil is made flesh.

The end of the Production Code of America in 1964, the financial successes of the low-budget

gore films of the ensuing years, and the critical and popular success ofRosemary's Baby (1968), led

to the release of more films with occult themes in the 1970s, such as The Exorcist (1973), and scores

of other horror films in which the Devil represented the supernatural evil, often by impregnating

women or possessing children. The genre also included gory horror movies with sexual overtones,

made as "A-movies" (as opposed to "B movies") some of these films were made by respected auteur.

"Evil children" and reincarnation became popular subjects (as in Robert Wise's 1977 film Audrey

Rose, which dealt with a man who claims his daughter is the reincarnation of another dead person).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mathesonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_Film_Productionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Leehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Frankensteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_(1958_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_(1959_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_(1959_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Fisherhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Pictureshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Cormanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Pricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon_British_Film_Productionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Reeveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Pricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Claytonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_(1963_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary's_Baby_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanskihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary's_Baby_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_moviehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Rose_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Rose_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mathesonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Agehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_alienationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammer_Film_Productionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Leehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curse_of_Frankensteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_(1958_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_(1959_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_(1959_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Fisherhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_International_Pictureshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Cormanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Pricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigon_British_Film_Productionshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Reeveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Pricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror-of-demonichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Claytonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_(1963_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary's_Baby_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanskihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_Codehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosemary's_Baby_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_moviehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteurhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wisehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Rose_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Rose_(film)


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Alice, Sweet Alice (1977), is another Catholic themed horror slasher about a little girl's murder and

her sister being the prime suspect. Another popular satanic horror movie was The Omen (1976),

where a man realizes his five year old adopted son is the Antichrist. Invincible to human intervention,

Satan became the villain in many horror films with apostmodern style and a dystopian worldview.

Another example is The Sentinel (1977 film), in which a fashion model discovers her new

brownstone residence may actually be a portal to Hell. The movie includes seasoned actors such as

Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith and Eli Wallach and such future stars as Christopher Walken and

Jeff Goldblum.

The ideas of the 1960s began to influence horror films, as the youth involved in the

counterculturebegan exploring the medium. Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes (1977) and Tobe

Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)[15] recalled the Vietnam war; George A. Romero

satirised the consumer society in his 1978 zombie sequel, Dawn of the Dead; Canadian director

David Cronenberg featured the "mad scientist" movie subgenre by exploring contemporary fears

about technology and society, and reinventing "body horror", starting with Shivers (1975).

Also in the 1970s, horror author Stephen King debuted on the film scene as many of his books

were adapted for the screen, beginning with Brian De Palma's adaptation of King's first published

novel, Carrie (1976), which was nominated forAcademy Awards.

John Carpenter created the hit Halloween (1978). Sean Cunningham made Friday the 13th

(1980). This subgenre would be mined by dozens of increasingly violent movies throughout the

subsequent decades, and Halloween became a successful independent film. Other notable '70s slasher

films include Bob Clark's Black Christmas (1974), which was released before Halloween, and was

another start of the sub-genre.

In 1975, Steven Spielberg began his ascension to fame with Jaws (1975). The film kicked off a

wave of killer animal stories such as Orca (1977), and Up from the Depths. Jaws is often credited as

being one of the first films to use traditionally B movie elements such as horror and mild gore in a

big-budget Hollywood film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice,_Sweet_Alicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichristhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel_(1977_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Gardnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Meredithhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallachhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Walkenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Goldblumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Cravenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobe_Hooperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobe_Hooperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas_Chain_Saw_Massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Romerohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_the_Deadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cronenberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_scientisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_horrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Kinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_De_Palmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(1976_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(1980_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Clarkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Christmas_(1974_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Up_from_the_Depths&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_moviehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice,_Sweet_Alicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antichristhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystopianhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sentinel_(1977_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ava_Gardnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Meredithhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Wallachhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Walkenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Goldblumhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterculture_of_the_1960shttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Cravenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hills_Have_Eyes_(1977_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobe_Hooperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobe_Hooperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas_Chain_Saw_Massacrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film#cite_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Romerohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_of_the_Deadhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cronenberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_scientisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_horrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivers_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Kinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_De_Palmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_(1976_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Awardhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carpenterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(1980_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Clarkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Christmas_(1974_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaws_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Up_from_the_Depths&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_movie


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1979's Alien combined the naturalistic acting and graphic violence of the 1970s with the monster

movie plots of earlier decades, and used science fiction. The film was extremely successful at both

box office and critical reception, being called "Jaws in space", and a landmark film for the science

fiction genre.

In the first half of the 1990s, the genre continued many of the themes from the 1980s. Sequels

from the Child's Play and Leprechaun series enjoyed some commercial success. The slasher films A

Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and Halloween all saw sequels in the 1990s, most of which

met with varied amounts of success at the box office, but all were panned by fans and critics, with the

exception of Wes Craven's New Nightmare.

New Nightmare, with In the Mouth of Madness, The Dark Half, and Candyman, were part of a

mini-movement of self-reflexive or metafictional horror films. Each film touched upon the

relationship between fictional horror and real-world horror. Candyman, for example, examined the

link between an invented urban legend and the realistic horror of the racism that produced its villain.

In the Mouth of Madness took a more literal approach, as its protagonist actually hopped from the

real world into a novel created by the madman he was hired to track down. This reflective style

became more overt and ironic with the arrival ofScream.

In 1994's Interview with the Vampire, the "Theatre de Vampires" (and the film itself, to some

degree) invoked the Grand Guignol style, perhaps to further remove the undead performers from

humanity, morality and class. The horror movie soon continued its search for new and effective

frights. In 1985's novel The Vampire Lestat by author Anne Rice (who penned Interview...'s

screenplay and the 1976 novel of the same name) suggests that its antihero Lestat inspired and

nurtured the Grand Guignol style and theatre.

Two main problems pushed horror backward during this period: firstly, the horror genre wore

itself out with the proliferation of nonstop slasher and gore films in the eighties. Secondly, the

adolescent audience which feasted on the blood and morbidity of the previous decade grew up, and

the replacement audiences for films of an imaginative nature were being captured instead by the

explosion ofscience-fiction and fantasy, courtesy of the special effects possibilities with computer-

generated imagery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child's_Playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Streethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Streethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(1980_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Craven's_New_Nightmarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Half_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candyman_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire:_The_Vampire_Chronicleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Lestathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Ricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imageryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imageryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child's_Playhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Streethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Streethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th_(1980_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_(1978_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Craven's_New_Nightmarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Mouth_of_Madnesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Half_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candyman_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metafictionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview_with_the_Vampire:_The_Vampire_Chronicleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Lestathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Ricehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignolhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imageryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-generated_imagery


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To re-connect with its audience, horror became more self-mockingly ironic and outright parodic,

especially in the latter half of the 1990s. Peter Jackson's Braindead (1992) (known as Dead Alive in

the USA) took the splatter film to ridiculous excesses for comic effect. Wes Craven's Scream (written

by Kevin Williamson) movies, starting in 1996, featured teenagers who were fully aware of, and

often made reference to, the history of horror movies, and mixed ironic humour with the shocks.

Along with I Know What You Did Last Summer (written by Kevin Williamson as well) and Urban

Legend, they re-ignited the dormant slasher film genre.

The start of the 2000s saw a quiet period for the genre. The re-release of a restored version of

The Exorcist in September 2000 was successful despite the film having been available on home video

for years. Franchise films such as Freddy vs. Jason also made a stand in theaters. Final Destination

(2000) marked a successful revival of teen-centered horror and spawned four sequels. As well as the

Jeepers Creepers series, films like Wrong Turn, Cabin Fever, House of 1000 Corpses, and the

previous mentions helped bring the genre back to Restricted ratings in theaters pleasing many

hardcore horror fans.

Some notable trends have marked horror films in the 2000s. A French horror film Brotherhood

of the Wolfbecame the second-highest-grossing French-language film in the United States in the last

two decades. The Others (2001) was a successful horror film of that year. That film was the first

horror in the decade to rely on psychology to scare audiences, rather than gore. A minimalist

approach which was equal parts Val Lewton's theory of "less is more" (usually employing low-

budget techniques seen on 1999's The Blair Witch Project) has been evident, particularly in the

emergence of Asian horror movies which have been remade into successful Americanized versions,

such as The Ring (2002), and The Grudge (2004).

A larger trend is a return to the extreme, graphic violence that characterized much of the type of

low-budget, exploitation horror from the Seventies and the post-Vietnam years. Films like The

Collector, The Tortured , Saw, and Hostel, and their respective sequels, frequently singled out as

examples of emergence of this sub-genre. Finally with the arrival of Paranormal Activity (2009),

which had very good reviews and an excellent reception at the box office, minimal thought started by

The Blair Witch Project was reaffirmed and is expected to be continued successfully in other low-

budget productions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braindead_(1992_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatter_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Williamson_(screenwriter)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_What_You_Did_Last_Summerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Williamson_(screenwriter)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legend_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legend_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_vs._Jasonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Destinationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepers_Creepers_(2001_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrong_Turnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_Fever_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_1000_Corpseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Wolfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Wolfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Others_(2001_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Projecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(2002_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grudgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector_(2009_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector_(2009_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torturedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saw_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel_(2005_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_Activityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Projecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parodyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braindead_(1992_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatter_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Williamson_(screenwriter)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_What_You_Did_Last_Summerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Williamson_(screenwriter)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legend_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Legend_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_filmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcist_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_vs._Jasonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Destinationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepers_Creepers_(2001_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrong_Turnhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_Fever_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_1000_Corpseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Wolfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brotherhood_of_the_Wolfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French-languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Others_(2001_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Projecthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ring_(2002_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grudgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector_(2009_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Collector_(2009_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Torturedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saw_(film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostel_(2005_film)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_Activityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project


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Horror Movies

Horror films are unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror

from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means ofmacabre and the

supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also

frequently overlap with the thrillergenre.

Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terrorof the

unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about

morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror."

Plots written within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or

personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Themes or elements often

prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, satanism,

demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and masked serial killers.

Conversely, stories of the supernatural are not necessarily always a horror movie as well.

What is considered to be a horror film has varied from decade to decade. These days, the term

"horror" is applied to films which display more explicit gore, jump scenes/scares or supernatural

content (Wes Craven's New Nightmare, A Tale of Two Sisters, Saw films, The Strangers, The Ring,

and Session 9). Early horror movies are largely based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre,

such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. More recent

horror films continue to exploit the monsters of literature.

It is a proven fact that people love to be scared by horror movies. Some of the most horrified

faces are portrayed in the best horror films of Hollywood, which are much liked by people. They

simply love to watch the repulsive aliens and the blood dripping down the horrifying face. Watching

such scary flicks, just for entertainment, is quiet acceptable, provided you do not empathize the

situations depicted in what you have watched. This is a sign of caution, as you will never know when

you start developing fear for almost everything around you. Check out the effects of watching horror

movies in the following lines.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgusthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_(emotion)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macabrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernaturalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmareshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobiashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbidityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_violencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampireshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_houseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disgusthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_(emotion)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macabrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernaturalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(genre)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightmareshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobiashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morbidityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killershttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virushttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evilhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_violencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampireshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannibalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_houseshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombies


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EFFECTS OF HORROR MOVIES

1. Anxiety

- The NIMH study reveals direct evidence that in children 5 and younger, especially toddlers;

scary movies can produce acute cases of anxiety. The symptoms of this anxiety include

sleeping disorders, aggressiveness and self-endangerment.

2. Avoidance

- Both studies indicated that children exposed to horror films avoided real life situations

shown in a fictional manner on screen. The subjects exhibited dread of facing those situations.

Some children not only avoided real life situations, but also come to avoid seeing other

movies or TV shows dealing with the same situations that instilled the original fear.

3. Obsession

- A common effect among older children and even tweens and pre-teens, upon viewing horror

movies is to obsessively talk about the stimulus that produces the fear. The subject of the

obsessive talk may be expressed in either a morbid fascination or a need to alienate

themselves from what they have seen through discourse.

4. Nightmares

- Probably the most common effect that horror movies have on children is the production of

nightmares. Many children as well as adults can be expected to have a nightmare after seeing

a horror film, especially one that may be troublesome emotional or features particularly

repulsive and upsetting gore.

5. Gore

- The stimuli found to produce an adverse effect in children most often in horror films was the

representation of blood or physical injury. Almost two-third of respondents report being


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affected emotionally more by the presence of blood and injury over stimuli such as disturbing

images, environmental disasters, scary animals, monsters and aliens.

6. Most Common Symptoms

- Many symptoms are associated with a reaction to viewing horror films. Among the most

common symptoms include crying or screaming, trembling or shaking, upset stomach,

clinginess, paralysis, sweating, fever, chills and loss of appetite.

Psychological Horror Have you ever noticed how a psychological horror can be scarier than

your run of the mill, gore fest horror movie? "Psychological horror" is a subgenre of that relies on

character fears, guilt, beliefs, and emotional instability to build tension and further the plot.

Psychological horror is different from the type of horror found in "splatter films," which derive their

effects from gore and violence, and in which the object of horror does not always appear as a monster

or a vicious stalker, but usually another person or a supernatural presence, whose horrific identity is

often not revealed until the end of the movie.

There are plenty of psychological horror movies that creep into your sub-conscious and haunt

you well after the movie has finished, they usually affect you on a deeper level, and stay with you for

longer. Usually creating a great lead character, who stays with you, and who you can identify, and

empathize with. Well-known examples of psychological fiction include The Sixth Sense and The

Blair Witch Project.

These movies create discomfort in the viewer by exposing common or universal psychological

vulnerabilities and fears, most notably the parts that most people repress or deny. For example, even

though A Nightmare on Elm Street is now seen as a slasher movie, if you go back to the first three

movies. The character of Freddy Kruger plays on his victims worst fears in their nightmares; for

example, in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Kruger menaces one girl, who is a

recovering heroin addict, by turning his knives into needles and giving her an overdose.

Psychological horror comes from within, exposing the evil that hides behind normality, while

splatter fiction focuses on bizarre, alien, or evil themes, which the viewer can't easily relate to. In


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American Psycho, the character, Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), shocked many people, he was so

normal to the outside world, but completely nuts when he had his victims alone, and when the viewer

witnessed what was going on in his head. Likewise, Hannibal Lecter from (Antony Hopkins)

Silence of the Lambs etc., captured audiences fascination because the character in itself was pure

evil, but hid behind the veneer of gentility, which was often shocking to see.

These movies often mix horror with strong themes of the thriller genre. Rosemarys Baby, is a

fantastic example of psychological horror. The character is an everyday woman, who moves into an

apartment complex, she is told once had strong relations with which craft. As she falls pregnant, more

clues point to the fact that someone is after her unborn child, her paranoia builds, as does the

audiences. Everybody is a suspect to her; she feels in the end that she can trust nobody that everyone

is after her. And they are. The great thing about this movie, is the fact that nothing is seen until the

very end, and then there is little shown; however the fear is taught throughout, and the audience

relates to Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), asking what is real, wanting her to get away safely

from the everyday conspirators. Psychological horror is frightening to some viewers because of the

tension built upon throughout the story. This movie, as with movies such as The Ring can haunt the

audience long after the credits role.

Splatter films and slasher movies usually rely upon sudden jolts and direct physical harm or threats to

sympathetic characters, such as a Michael Myers jumping out of a cupboard and stabbing someone.

The primary effect of psychological horror is to play upon the anticipation of a perceived threat, or toconfuse the viewer regarding the nature, or existence of the threat being there. The Omen or The

Village make you believe or doubt something about the entire plot of the film, which either we never

discover, or have to make our own minds up about, or sometimes completely shock us with an

unexpected plot turn.

By Bernie DeGroat

News and Information Services

While the short-term effects of watching horror movies or other films and television programs

with disturbing content are well-documented among children and teens, a new U-M study shows that

long-term effects can linger even into adulthood.


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In their study "Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media," U-M

researcher Kristen Harrison and colleague Joanne Cantor of the University of Wisconsin found that

90 percent of the study's participants (more than 150 college students at Michigan and Wisconsin)

reported a media fright reaction from childhood or adolescence. Moreover, about 26 percent still

experience a "residual anxiety" today.

"This may not be surprising, but the proportion of participants--one in four--who reported fright

effects that they were still experiencing indicates that these responses should be of major concern,"

says Harrison, assistant professor of communication studies. "These effects were more serious than

jumpiness at a slammed door or the need to use a nightlight. They ranged from an inability to sleep

through the night for months after exposure, to steadfast and continuing avoidance of the situations

portrayed in the programs and movies."

The researchers, whose study will appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal Media

Psychology, found that 52 percent of the sample reported disturbances in normal behavior such as

sleeping or eating after viewing a frightening film or TV program. More than a third avoided or

dreaded the depicted situation in their own lives, and nearly a fourth reported obsessive thinking or

talking about the frightening stimulus.

While more than one-fourth of the study's participants still experience such aftermath, the

duration of the effects--both past and present--range from less than a week (about 33 percent of thesample) to more than a year (about 36 percent).

According to the study, a wide range of symptoms were reported, including crying or screaming

(27 percent of participants), trembling or shaking (24 percent), nausea or stomach pain (20 percent),

clinging to a companion (18 percent), increased heart rate (18 percent), freezing or feeling of

paralysis (17 percent) and fear of losing control (11 percent), as well as sweating, chills or fever, fearof dying, shortness of breath, feeling of unreality, dizziness or faintness, and numbness (all less than

10 percent each).

"It appears, then, that the physical and emotional fright reactions our sample experienced in

reaction to media stimuli are very similar to those typically experienced in reaction to real-life

stimuli, a finding that is consistent with the principle of stimulus generalization," Harrison says.


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Harrison and Cantor categorized the phobia-producing stimuli into five areas: animal (animals,

insects, reptiles, animal-like aliens, etc.); environmental (fires, floods, earthquakes, storms, water,

nuclear holocaust and other environmental threats); blood/injection/injury (blood, gore, injury, pain,

wounds, needles and other physical threats to living things); situational (heights, enclosed spaces and

circumscribed situations like doctors' offices); and disturbing sounds/distorted images (loud noises,

distorted faces, etc.).

The most frequently reported type they found is blood/injection/injury (reported by 65 percent of

the sample). One participant said that in the movie Jaws, it was not the shark or actual deaths that wasfrightening, but the blood.

"For about two months after the movie, I had nightmares about blood," the participant said. "The

nightmares didn't always involve sharks, but always contained gross amounts of blood. To this day, I

remain horrified of blood."

Harrison says that it is not clear whether this type of stimulus was mentioned most frequently

because it is inherently more frightening than the other types, is the most common stimulus found in

the mass media or, for some reason, is recalled more easily.

"In any case, the ubiquity of blood and gore in the U.S. media should be cause for concern

regarding its potential for causing enduring fright reactions in children," she says.

Disturbing sounds/distorted images is the other most common type of fright stimulus found in

films and TV programming (reported by 60 percent of participants). One participant was scared by

the heavy breathing of the killer in the film Halloween, while several others found the suspenseful

music in Jaws frightening.

The other three classes of stimuli were reported by a minority of the sample: situational (33

percent), animal (12 percent) and environmental (9 percent).

According to Harrison and Cantor, the younger the study's participants were when they viewed a

scary movie and TV program, the longer-lasting the effects. In addition, their data provide little


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support for the popular notion that children who like thrilling media genres will be better able to

handle their effects than children who do not like them.

Further, the average duration of fright effects for participants who watched frightening media

because someone else was watching or wanted to watch was significantly higher than the duration for

those who sought out the film or program themselves.

"The enduring fright reactions reported in this study were not the product of strange or unusual

viewing circumstances," Harrison says. "Considering the abundance of graphically violent content in

movies and on premium cable television channels, as well as the tendency for younger family

members to go along with older members' media choices, it is not surprising that enduring fright

effects from scary media were prevalent in our sample."

Finally, regardless of what frightened them as children, the study's participants appeared to

know which coping strategies worked best for them, the researchers say. For example, those younger

at exposure relied more heavily on behavioral coping strategies (covering their eyes, leaving the

room, hugging a pillow), while those older at the time of viewing used cognitive strategies

(reassuring oneself that "it's just a movie" or "this could never happen in real life").

"Many adults have learned to recognize the types of stimuli that frighten them and can choose

movies and programs carefully to avoid such content," Harrison says. "Given that very young

children may not yet know what types of stimuli frighten them most, and that they do not enjoy the

power to choose which media the family will view, they are in special need of protection from

exposure to such scary stimuli before coping strategies are necessary.

"It is reasonable to recommend that we pay closer attention to the potential media stimuli may

have for creating long-lasting fears of the surrounding world, fears that can interfere with normal

functioning. Given that normal functioning of children is an essential goal of child-rearing, parents

should be aware of the types of media that may contribute to enduring fright effects in their children."

VIII. Bibliography


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Encyclopedia

"Horror." New Encyclopedia Britannica. 1997 ed.

"Horror." Def. 2. The New Lexicon Webster's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language.

Canadian ed. 1988.

Websites:

"Horror Review." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 1999. Encyclopedia Britannica. 27 April 2009

"Horror and terror." Wikipedia. 28 February 2011

"Horror Film." Wikipedia. 1 March 201 1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film>

Article:

Uy, Jocelyn R. "Horror books pleasure read for brave souls." Inquirer Headlines :
http://www.horrorreview.com/2009/fragments2009.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_and_terrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_filmhttp://www.horrorreview.com/2009/fragments2009.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_and_terrorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film

Effects of Horror Movies

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